


An Expert on Bad Dreams

by bagog



Series: New Skill Set [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Destroy Ending, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Fluff, M/M, Space Husbands, starfleetspectre's stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-09 02:28:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3232859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagog/pseuds/bagog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard and Kaidan are woken up to handle an emergency.</p><p>Now with art by Starfleetspectre!</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Expert on Bad Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This started out life on [m'Tumblr](bagog.tumblr.com), and is dedicated to starfleetspectre, who graciously provided art for this story.

“Daddy?”

Shepard’s eyes shot open, muscles tensed for a fight, body starting awake in Kaidan’s arms. Before he could shoot out of bed, those arms wrapped around him tight, holding him close, letting him exhale slowly. Closing his eyes again, he felt Kaidan’s hand stroke down his chest, finger tips dusting gently across his eyelids, a soft ‘hush’ pressed into the back of his neck with a kiss. He made a soft sound and sank back into the pillow, but a moment later squirmed at the rush of cold air against his back as Kaidan untangled their bodies. Shepard reached back, turning over to follow Kaidan’s warmth.

“ _Daddy?”_

It took a second for his eyes to focus as Kaidan switched on a light, pulling the sheet around his shoulders even as it slipped down Kaidan’s bare torso to his waist. On Kaidan’s side of the bed, the top of little Shaun’s head barely cleared the top of the mattress, only visible as an unruly mop of brown hair above a pair of wide amber eyes peering up at Kaidan. Shaun had that look on his face that always made Shepard rush over and protect him. But he had come to Kaidan’s side of the bed, and there was a ritual that needed to be performed.

“I’m up… Daddy’s up, just… gimme a second…” Kaidan slid back down prone on the bed, pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, yawned wide, his chest rising and falling with a few deep gulps of air, “Okay… okay.” He cleared his throat, and Shepard smiled a little when Shaun’s nose peeked over the top of the mattress, leaning in. Kaidan reached an arm out and the little boy grasped Kaidan’s hand  above his head with both of his, jumping off the floor to help as his daddy tensed his bicep and hoisted him up onto the bed.

Shepard and Shaun both loved the big heaving noise Kaidan made whenever he lifted the boy up like this. Shepard’s eyes were half-closed as he settled onto the pillow to watch—Shaun got embarrassed if he knew he’d woken up both his dads—but he allowed his leg to slide across the cold gap between him and Kaidan, lightly touch his husband’s leg. The minute Shaun’s knees hit the mattress, he scrambled up to sit on Kaidan’s chest, pushing an exaggerated ‘Oomph’ out of the man. He hugged Kaidan’s neck tight.

“Oh, babs! What’s the matter, huh?” Kaidan stroked his back, straightening the hood on his plush quarian envirosuit pyjamas.

“I had a nightmare.” The boy mumbled, clutching his plush krogan doll. Shepard thought he might be fighting tears.

“A nightmare? Oh no!” Kaidan squeezed Shaun before lifting him up to sitting so he could look into the little boy’s eyes. Still wide-eyed, Shaun nodded, biting his lip like he always did. “What happened?”

Shepard tried to cover his smile in Kaidan’s pillow without letting Shaun know he was awake. Kaidan knew just how to handle nightmares, and it was all about taking them _seriously_ , no matter what. No matter how often. No matter what time of the night. The way Kaidan’s eyebrows knit together in sympathy when Shaun told him about a bad dream was familiar to Shepard. No wonder Shaun stopped coming to Shepard’s side of the bed when he had a nightmare. Shepard ran his big toe up the sole of Kaidan’s foot beneath the sheet.

“There was a crocodile and it wanted to eat me. It was in the bathroom. In the tub. And Reega was downstairs but he didn’t believe me! The crocodile was chasing me and I was trying to run but I couldn’t move fast!”

“Oh no!”

“Yeah! And I ran into my room and I couldn’t shut the door and I tried yelling for help but nobody heard me! Then I woke up…”

“Well it sounds like you woke up just in time, huh?” Kaidan smiled up at their son as he began smoothing Shaun’s bed-hair down, “Was it this house?”

“Uh-uh,” Shaun shook his head, “It was our house on the Citadel.”

“Oh, okay! The _big_ tub, huh?” he crumpled the boy’s bangs in his hand and gave the shock of hair a soft pat, transforming it into a well-groomed poof. Shepard rolled his eyes to himself, but marveled at how much the grooming soothed Shaun.

“Uh-huh. It was real scary!” he said, but Shepard could see that most of the fear had smoothed from his brow.

“I bet!”

“I don’t wanna go in the tub anymore.”

“You don’t, huh?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Well you don’t need to worry about _that_ dream coming true, Babs. It’s just. Too. Weird.” He punctuated each word with a little poke into Shaun’s side which made the boy squirm and fight against his own smile, “Know how I know?”

“How?”

“Well, because we are _always_ gonna come running if you need help, okay?” Kaidan said, and Shaun nodded, “And besides, you know Reega wouldn’t pass up the chance to see a real live _crocodile_ , would he?” Shaun smiled and shook his head.  Kaidan’s wide grin pulled Shaun’s even wider, and Shepard knew what was coming next.

Shaun shyly scooted till he was seated cross-legged on Kaidan’s stomach, puppy-dog stare fixed squarely on Kaidan. There was a glimmer in Kaidan’s eyes before he began inhaling dramatically, pushing his belly up and slowly raising Shaun… he puffed out his cheeks and held his breath, squinting with pretend exertion… suddenly he pushed all the air out, tensing his abs as Shaun dropped suddenly giggling in delight at the sudden rush. Shepard watched his husband’s tight stomach again expand with a deep breath, then blow all the air out again, flexing his belly up and down till Shaun was giggling and practically falling off.

It’d been one of Shaun’s favorite games since before he could talk, and was such a surefire way of cheering him up that Shepard sometimes wondered why Kaidan even bothered with the preliminary conversation anyway. That’s another reason Shaun probably came to Kaidan’s side of the bed with nightmares.

“Oof, Babs! You are getting so heavy!” he tickled under the boys’ arms, “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Shaun answered with that gentle whine he used when he maybe wasn’t ready to stop getting some attention from his Dads yet.

“Good. Nightmares are tricky things, aren’t they? Y’know, Papa knows a lot about nightmares.” Kaidan said. Shepard closed his eyes completely just in time as Shaun turned to look. As if suddenly remembering his other dad was in the room, Shaun’s voice grew hushed.

“Papa has _nightmares_?”

“Yeah, everyone does, Babs. But your Papa’s an expert.”

“Really?”

“Sure thing. Why don’t you wake him up and ask him about it?”

“But you said I shouldn’t wake him up real sudden.” He heard Shaun whisper. Shepard smiled and tried to slow his breathing to a sleeping rhythm, ready to play his role.

“It’s okay this once.”

Shepard felt the bed tremble slightly, then small hands on his shoulder, shaking him just a little.

“…Papa?”

The bed rocked again, Shepard heard Kaidan whisper, “Go on, try again.”

“ _Papa?_ ”

Shepard pretended to slowly come to wakefulness, making a show of yawning and stretching. When he finally opened his eyes, Shaun’s face hovered right in front of his, his dark eyes wide and worried. He noticed Kaidan, up on an elbow at his side with a wry smile on his face, he felt Kaidan’s foot gently stroke his.

“Shaun, hey.” Shepard gave his son a big smile to try to calm him, “You okay, son?”

“I had a nightmare.” Shaun mumbled. Shepard pushed himself up to lean against the headboard, scooping up Shaun with him and sitting the boy on his lap.

“Ohhhhh, a nightmare huh? Really scary?”

“Uh-huh. There was a crocodile in the tub.”

“But that’s _our_ tub!” Shepard mustered up some feigned outrage.

“Then it chased me!”

“What! _No!_ ” Shepard wasn’t as good at sounding kid-friendly and believable as Kaidan was. But fortunately Shaun didn’t seem to notice.

“I tried screaming for help but nobody came!”

“Was it fast?”

“Ummm…” Shaun looked confused, “I think… so…?”

“Erm. I mean… I hope it’s fast, because it’s gonna need to be to run away from me if it thinks it can chase _my_ son!”

“ _Pa_ pa!” Shaun rolled his eyes the way he’d seen Kaidan do, but smiled. Shepard tousled his hair into a messy mop again, and suppressed a grin at the glare Kaidan shot him.

“Well you know what you have to do the next time we’re at our apartment on the Citadel then, don’t you?”

“What?”

“You’ve got to take a bath in that tub to show that crocodile who’s boss!” he pulled the boy in for a hug, and was happy to feel the boy’s arms wrap around his neck, smooth cheek pressed into the scars on Shepard’s. He knew Shaun loved him, trusted him, but nothing really convinced him like these kinds of hugs.

“Papa,” he pulled back, “Daddy says you have nightmares. Do you really?”

“Sure.”

“But you’re not scared of things like I am.”

“Sure I am. Everybody gets scared.”

“What do you have nightmares about?” he asked. Shepard threw a glance at Kaidan and interpreted his raised eyebrow as a combination of ‘Be careful’ and ‘are you alright?’

“Krogans.” Shepard said simply, sticking out his bottom lip in his best approximation of a ‘brave face’.

“Awww, but they’re so nice!” Shaun cuddled his krogan plushie with both arms.

“C’mon, you don’t think Uncle Wrex is scary?”

“Naaaah!”

“Well I think he’s scary. What do you think, Dad?”

“He gets cranky when he’s tired!” Kaidan chuckled, the gravelly sound made Shepard’s heart beat a little faster.

“Do you ever have nightmares about Reapers, Papa?” Shaun asked suddenly. Shepard tensed.

“—Babs I think that—“ Kaidan leaned in, but Shepard gently held up a hand.

“Yeah, sometimes I do.”

“What did Reapers even _look_ like?”

Shepard took a few deep breaths, trying not to let his distress show on his face, still so close to Shaun’s innocent expression. He lifted his hand up below his nose and wiggled his fingers in front of his mouth like mock-tentacles.

“A little like this.”

“That doesn’t seem so scary!”

“Well it scared me!”

“Sorry Papa, I didn’t mean to make fun of your nightmares.”

“It’s okay, I can handle ‘em.”

“I don’t wanna have bad dreams about that crocodile again.”

“Maybe you won’t?”

“How do you make sure you don’t have nightmares about Reapers?”

Shepard felt Kaidan’s fingers intertwine with his between them on the mattress as Kaidan scooted higher on the bed to press in close, laying his head on Shepard’s shoulder.

“I can’t always make sure I don’t have bad dreams. But when I wake up, I try to do the most I can, because the _nightmares_ don’t matter. The people you’re with when you’re awake? They’re the important ones, not the monsters in the nightmares. Does that make sense?”

Shaun nodded, suppressed a yawn, but Shepard wasn’t entirely convinced the boy had made sense of what he said. Fortunately he had years and years to teach that lesson. He turned to look at the clock.

“Well kiddo, it’s 01:36 and your Daddy’s got a Council meeting tomorrow. Think you can go back to bed?”

Shaun nodded and Shepard scooted off the bed to pick him up, trying to emulate Kaidan’s big heaving noise in the process. He’d have been disappointed in his own poor effort if he hadn’t felt Shaun’s legs wrap around his waist. Carrying the boy back to his own room, he laid Shaun in bed and tucked him in, but could see some of the worry coming back into Shaun’s face in the glow of the night-light.

“Okay, let’s try that breathing exercise Daddy taught you, ready?”

They each took a few deep, long inhalations and _really_ long exhales, the kind Kaidan did when he felt a migraine coming on. The kind he taught Shaun for when the other boy got anxious about making friends or whether or not Shepard was going to like the picture he drew for him. In just a few breaths, he was out like a light, and Shepard pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, gently smoothing his hair back into some semblance of order before plodding back to his bedroom.

Kaidan had settled onto his back on the bed, sheet still at his waist. Shepard eyes ran up his husband’s chest as he circled the bed to his side. He couldn’t help but notice the way Kaidan’s eyes followed him across the room. He smirked as he got to the edge of the bed. Turning his back to Kaidan, he slowly slipped down his boxers, bending over to pull them off before sliding into bed. Kaidan’s rusty chuckle sent a warm rush through Shepard as he and Kaidan met each other in the center of the bed.

“Brave man, Shepard. You know the second you commit to something like that he’s gonna have another nightmare.” Kaidan nuzzled into Shepard’s neck as Shepard warmed his hands against Kaidan’s chest.

“Remember before we had a kid and we could sleep naked all the time?” he gently tugged at the waistband of Kaidan’s briefs, slowly sliding his hand inside to find Kaidan half-hard.

“Remember when we were on the Normandy and we could’ve but we didn’t?” Kaidan said, teasing the stud in Shepard’s ear with his tongue.

“Mm. We were dumb. Why did we ever think we could raise a kid?” Shepard shivered at the sensation as Kaidan planted his lips on Shepard’s: a flood of tiny, tired kisses. Shepard stroked his knuckles over Kaidan’s tight stomach, “You’re gonna be sore in the morning from all that horsing around.”

“Yeah, he’s getting too big. Don’t think I’ll be able to do that much longer. I don’t think I can curl him like that anymore either.” He had slid his leg between Shepard’s legs, “Kid’s growing like a weed.”

“Yeah, I hope he grows out of those nightmares.” Shepard sighed, he wanted to say something about how he must’ve learned all that over-thinking, all that worrying, from Kaidan. But since Shaun was born the only thing he’d seen Kaidan worry about was Shepard.

“He will.” Kaidain said softly, his stubble rubbing through the hair on Shepard’s chest, “He’s got a good role model.”

“Mhm,” Shepard groaned as Kaidan softly nibbled at his collarbone “I think he’s going to grow up just fine.” Shepard felt Kaidan’s tongue loll around his chest, gasped sharply at the warm breath across his nipple.

“You were worried?” Kaidan mumbled from the crevice between his pecs. Shepard grunted as Kaidan’s knee gently brushed along his inner thigh. He pulled Kaidan up and leaned their foreheads together. He kissed the tip of Kaidan’s nose where Kaidan always gave Shaun eskimo kisses. He kissed the corner of his eyes where those little lines appeared whenever Kaidan smiled really wide to cheer Shaun up. Kaidan’s deep whiskey eyes were the same as ever, even as his expression had relaxed since the war, even as he had shown Shepard his silly side to make their son laugh. And nobody could handle nightmares like Kaidan.

“No. I don’t worry when you’re around. We've got a hell of a son.” He said at last as Kaidan shifted on top of him until his husband’s full weight and warmth pressed him into the mattress.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! It's fluffy, just real fluffy. Oh well. Again, the characters are based off starfleetspectre's portrayals.


End file.
